


How Many?

by aroacewritingplace



Series: Parley Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aged-Up Harley Keener, Aged-Up Peter Parker, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-07 18:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19474525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroacewritingplace/pseuds/aroacewritingplace
Summary: Tumblr ask: You should do any of the angst numbers for that writing prompt thing >:) (with Harley and Peter, of course)1. ”I can’t do anything right.” / 2. “Please don’t cry.”





	How Many?

When Peter got back from patrol that night and entered their apartment silently, Harley instantly knew that something wasn’t right.

First of all, Peter had turned off his comms to Harley about an hour ago, saying something about a high-risk situation. That had initially worried Harley the first time he did it, but now that was normal, even if it did make him miss his boyfriend all the more. 

Harley examined his face as he set down his book and walked toward him. There were bruises blossoming on his face, but that too was normal. It was superficial, they would be gone by morning.

Peter standing there, with a glassy look on his face, eyes staring vacantly into space even as Harley drew closer and closer… that wasn’t normal.

“Sweetheart?” Harley mumbled questioningly, and that was when Peter’s eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to the floor. Harley was there in an instant, catching him by the shoulders before his head could hit the ground. “Oh god, okay, shoot, what’s wrong baby?” Harley looked down Peter’s back and felt his stomach lurch at the blood trickling down the back of his torn-up suit. The skin underneath was red and already blistering, burned badly. By what, Harley wasn’t sure, but this was manageable. It was not the worst injury Harley had seen in the years of them living together by far.

“Okay, darlin’, let’s take this thing off. I don’t think you’ll need it for a while. Can we try and stand up?” Harley coaxed, and Peter groaned as he stirred. “I’ve got to get the scissors for this one, I think.”

Peter pried himself off of Harley’s lap long enough for Harley to stand up. Harley hooked his arms into Peter’s armpits and hoisted him up, grabbing the scissors with one hand as Peter slumped against him again. 

Harley opened his mouth to ask Peter to stand up again when the shaking began. Peter’s body shook wildly from his head to his toes as his sobs grew, tears finally spilling over those glassy eyes. Harley set the scissors down without hesitation and gingerly wrapped his arms around the least affected area of his body as Peter cried into his shoulder. His mind whirled with a thousand questions, but Harley knew by now to slow those thoughts down, organize them, and ask the most important ones when Peter was ready.

Peter knew their system too, so after a few minutes of sobbing the shaking in his shoulders slowed, and he pulled back so Harley could see his face. Harley took his hands from their spots on Peter’s back to grab his hands, squeezing them tightly as he prepared to ask the question. 

Very few things drove Peter to this level of anguish, so Harley knew the question he had to ask first.

“How many?”

“Twenty,” Peter said, and Harley’s heart dropped through the floor. “Mostly children, too. I- I couldn’t-” he broke off, a sob hiccuping in his throat. “I thought I had everyone, I thought they were going to surrender, I thought they were going to let them go, I-” He sniffled, a loud, wet sound. “They had dropped their guns, but when I webbed one of them to the wall, he still had the detonator in his hand and he pressed it- I couldn’t do anything right. I didn’t save a single one of them.”

“It’ll be okay,” Harley said reassuringly, but he knew far too well what this would do to Peter. He’d pretend like everything was fine, but the public would rise up again, calling him a menace, calling him a villain, and each time it happened it broke Harley’s heart a little and he knew it broke Peter’s resolve even more.

And god, it was children, how was he going to act around Jax?

“You should’ve seen them when they saw me swing in. The kids.” Peter’s voice was shaky as he gestured to the scissors beside Harley. “They cheered- well they did before one nearly got sh-shot.”

“But you stopped it?” Harley asked as he gently snipped through Peter’s suit, peeling the blistered fabric around the arms back, off his hands and forearms.

“Grabbed the gun before he could fire.”

“There you go,” Harley cooed, pushing the suit off of Peter’s chest and down to the ground, where Peter slowly stepped out of it as the cuts deepened.

“It didn’t make a fucking difference in the end, though.” Peter snarled before starting to cry again. Harley held him tight, hands winding around the back of his head.

“Shh, shh, you’ll wake him up.”

“God, it could have been him.” Peter gasped with sudden realization. “It was one of the places we looked at before we found him, he could have- fuck.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Don’t fall down that path, darlin’. That ain’t gonna lead anywhere but pain and suffering, you know that.”

“He- he’s okay, though?”

“Yeah, still in bed like you left him. Everything’s alright, he’s sound asleep.”

Peter exhaled heavily. “Good,” he said, rolling his bare shoulders back and cracking his bones. 

“Can we go and fix up these burns now?” Harley asked, looking anxiously at the wounds.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” Peter said. With his hand around Peter’s waist, and a heavy arm fell around his shoulders. They made their way into the bathroom, where Peter collapsed on the closed toilet seat. His posture slumped forward with exhaustion as Harley began to rub burn cream on his back. 

“You think you’ll need a bandage?” Harley asked as he took the time to rub what tension he could out of Peter’s shoulders and neck where the burns weren’t so bad. Peter let out a contented sigh as he did so, turning to look at Harley.

“Nah, just a shirt,” he said, smiling fondly. “You’re amazing, you know that? I love you so much.”

“I love you too. You gonna be alright tonight?”

Peter grimaced. “Maybe tonight, at least. You know what to do if I’m not.”

Harley sighed, thinking of the button he kept at the side of his bed. The button that would administer a tranquilizer strong enough to knock Peter out, enough to kill Harley. It was something Peter had cooked up when the nightmares from past traumas were getting too much, to the point where Harley could wake up to Peter thrashing around, too strong for Harley to control.

“We’re gonna be okay,” Harley said firmly, reaching down to squeeze Peter’s hand. Peter twisted and reached up, only wincing slightly at the wounds as he pulled Harley into a long kiss. Harley hummed against his lips, hating the taste of salt that slipped in there as Peter’s tears dripped off his face. Peter stood up, pressing his forehead to Harley and breathing deeply for a moment.

“Okay,” Peter said. “Maybe not tonight, but-”

“-someday we will be,” Harley finished. “Let’s go to bed now?”

Peter nodded, still leaning on Harley as they made their way from the bathroom into their bedroom. Peter pulled on a shirt and slipped on the wedding ring he kept by the bedside table when he went out and had nearly made it to the bed before he suddenly shook his head. “I forgot to pee.”

Harley laughed quietly. “Brush your teeth this time, too.”

Peter flapped at hand at him before he disappeared out the door, leaving it open. 

Harley sat up in bed as the bedroom door down the hall opened, freezing his husband in his tracks. Out padded a small boy in pajamas that glowed in the dark with planets and stars, rubbing his eyes as he looked up.

“Dad?” his small voice asked, and Harley could hear it trembling from way back in the room. “What’s wrong?”

Peter knelt down. “Nothing’s wrong, buddy. Just had a late night at work.”

“But you were crying. Why?” Jax asked, tilting his head slightly.

Peter hesitated before saying, “It was not a great night at work. Sometimes, where I work… people can get hurt-” his voice shook as he censored himself. “And it can be scary to see people… get hurt like that.”

“Are you hurt?”

Peter sighed. “Yeah, I am a little. But I’m all better now. Papa fixed me up.”

“He’s good at that.” Jax nodded severely, and Harley bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the sternness. “You’ve saved lots of people, right? Even though sometimes they get hurt, you save them?”

“Well, I-” Harley heard Peter’s voice crack. “I do my best, bud.”

“I have an idea for what you can do next time someone gets hurt. Do you want to hear it?”

Peter smiled gently. “Of course I do. I want to hear every single idea your brilliant little mind comes up with.”

“Okay.” Jax took a deep breath. “The next time someone gets hurt, please don’t cry, Dad. Think of all the people you’ve saved before. Then you can remember what you did then, and that’ll help you save people!” The bathroom light illuminated Jax’s smile and caught Peter’s watery eyes in the light.

“That’s a good plan, Jaxy. I’ll remember that next time I go to work, okay?” Harley touched his cheeks, and his fingertips came away wet.

Jax yawned then. “Okay, Daddy.”

“Alright, looks like someone’s ready for bed again.” Jax giggled quietly as Peter scooped him up and carried him into a room Harley couldn’t see. After a few minutes, Peter stepped out and shut the door behind him before entering the bathroom. A few minutes after that, Harley had laid back down when Peter entered the room and shut the door behind him. 

The mattress shifted as Peter shuffled into bed. He lay down facing Harley, and smiled gently, sadly. Harley could see it in the glow of their nightlight. “Did you hear all that?”

“‘Course I did,” Harley said, ignoring the way that tears were still gathering in his eyes at the memory of that recent conversation. “He’s not very quiet.”

“I know,” Peter said, but he was talking about something other than Jax’s lack of volume control as his finger swiped away a tear crawling down Harley’s face. “It’s okay.”

“Maybe not tonight-”

“But someday we will be.” Peter finished the promise, pressing a kiss to the knuckles on Harley’s left hand where his ring rested. 

“Yeah,” Harley breathed, eyes sliding shut as the comforting sound of Peter’s breathing lulled him to sleep. “I love you,” he whispered drowsily. “So much.”

“I love you too, Harley,” was the last thing he heard before drifting off into a pleasant, comforting sleep in Peter’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> this kid character kinda cute tho. he's babey 
> 
> tumblr: the-end-of-endgame


End file.
